Will Piwnica-Worms was a late addition to the playoff roster, but contributed for the second straight night with a two-out single in the 9th to give the P-Nats a 3-2 walkoff win and their third trip to the Mills Cup Finals in the last six seasons.

Kevin Keyes, who had doubled to left off Lynchburg reliever Jose Lugo in the 6th, cranked one off the right field wall with one out in the 9th for his second two-bagger. Despite having struck out three times previously, Brandon Miller was given an intentional pass in favor of a possible double play by Randolph Oduber.

The Groovin’ Aruban became the 7th P-Nat to go down by way of the K versus Jugo, which brought Piwnica-Worms to the plate. Lynchburg backup backstop Anthony Nunez, who hadn’t let up a passed ball in 18 games with the Hillcats during the regular season, let one go off his glove to move up the runners 90 feet.

The miscue proved fatal as Piwnica-Worms guided a seeing-eye single between first and second, sending in Keyes for the gamewinner.

Blake Schwartz “only” went eight innings, giving up both Lynchburg runs on eight hits but walked none and struck out five. Greg Holt got the win, working around a leadoff walk in the 9th with a flyout and two ground outs, assisting on the final out himself, 1-3.

In the Carolina League Southern Division series, the Salem Red Sox swept the Myrtle Beach Pelicans two games to none with a 4-3 win in 10 innings. The Sox will come to town tomorrow night for the best-of-five Mills Cup Championship, their first appearance since being swept by Lynchburg in 2009. Potomac was the 2008 and 2010 Carolina League Champions, defeating Myrtle Beach and Winston-Salem, respectively, three games to one.

Pitching matchups for the Finals have not yet been formally announced, but Potomac’s rotation will most likely be Matt Purke in Game One on Saturday, Paul Demny in Game Two on Sunday and Sammy Solis in Game Three in Salem on Tuesday with Schwartz and Purke going for Games Four and Five (if necessary, and also in Salem) on Wednesday and Thursday.

Blake Schwartz got the nod for the weekly honors over Wilmington’s Sam Selman, in large part because Selman got knocked around five days earlier by the P-Nats in a 5-3 loss.

This, of course, does not diminish the accomplishment of Schwartz, who probably would have won on any other night with just five hits let up over nine innings with no walks and four strikeouts.

The 23-year-old Minnesota native currently leads the Nationals organization in wins (13) and is third in ERA (2.42), WHIP (0.98) and opp. BA (.215). He was a 17th-Round pick in the 2012 Draft out of Oklahoma City University (NAIA), where he spent his senior season after three previous seasons with Minnesota State (Div. II).

Schwartz was also named to this site’s “Notable Arms” on the 2013 Watchlist, in large part because he made the rare jump from the GCL to the Suns last summer. He is the third Potomac pitcher to win the weekly award, following Taylor Hill (April 15-21) and two-time winner A.J. Cole (April 22-28, June 10-16).

OF Billy Burns, LHP Robbie Ray, and RHP Blake Schwartz were among those named on the roster. It’s believed to be the first All-Star appearance for all three players.

Burns will be among the starting outfielders, most likely in center. The 23-year-old Georgia native leads the Carolina League with 28 steals, while his .418 on-base percentage is second in the league.

Ray leads the Carolina League with 81 strikeouts in 62 innings, but is also third in most walks allowed with 29. After a disastrous 2012 (4-12, 6.56), the 21-year-old from Tennessee will take it as he’s also third in ERA at 2.32 and has posted a won-loss mark of 4-2.

Schwartz is a bit of a surprise, given that he began the season in Hagerstown and in the bullpen. Since his promotion in late April he’s won five of eight starts (5-1 for Potomac, 7-1 overall) and posted a league-best ERA of 1.29. The 23-year-old Minnesotan has risen rapidly up the Nationals ladder, going from a 17-round pick from Okalahoma City College to High-A in less than a calendar year.

The 2013 Carolina-California All-Star game is scheduled for June 18th with the San Jose Giants as the host city for the California League. The game will be televised locally as well as on MiLB.tv.

As aforementioned, the P-Nats have had only one player named the past three seasons with OF Michael Burgess the sole representative in 2010 and 2011 and C David Freitas in 2012 (RHP Rob Wort was named as an injury replacement). The previous multiple-player representation came in 2009, when RHPs Brad Meyers and Jeff Mandel were named to the Carolina League’s pitching staff.

The Potomac Nationals picked up where they left off on Saturday night and rolled to a 7-1 victory in the completion from Saturday night. Then they did it again in the 7-inning game that followed with a 7-2 win to extend their streak to five games and hold onto a share of first place in the Carolina League north.

Tyler Herron took the mound and tossed three scoreless to get the win in the completion, walking one and striking out four. Between Herron and Taylor Hill’s effort the night before, the game was well in hand but Kevin Keyes removed all doubt with a three-run HR off the LF foul pole. It was also the third time in the game Potomac had hit safely back-to-back-to-back with two outs.

In the second game, Blake Schwartz walked the first two batters he faced then threw away the ball on a pickoff attempt. He rolled a grounder to send in one run but got the next two outs to escape the jam with minimal damage, just one run.

His counterpart, Jason Van Skike, was just as wild (or squeezed, depending on your bias as he walked three of the first four batters he faced. Then the P-Nats started their station-to-station offense, connecting for three straight singles to cash in the three base on balls and give Schwartz a lead to work with.

The 23-y.o. Minnesotan walked the first batter of the 2nd, and for a brief moment, it looked like this could be a long afternoon — even with the shortened contest.

Then Schwartz, who is most definitely a flyball pitcher thus far for Potomac, found his groove. Changing speeds, he kept the Winston-Salem lineup off balance and retired 11 straight without the ball touching the ground — including three strikeouts and five flyouts to CF Michael Taylor.

The Dash’s no. 9 batter, .220-batting David Herbek, ended the no-hit bid with a line-drive single to left-center. He would also be the final Winston-Salem baserunner.

That’s because Schwartz strung together another streak of outs, beginning with a groundout to second to end the 5th and a strikeout to finish the 7th and earn the complete-game one-hitter. He walked three and struck out five for his third Potomac win.

As aforementioned, the win keeps pace with first-place Lynchburg, which leads Potomac in percentage points .559 to .556. The two teams have two remaining series against each other — May 24-26 in Lynchburg and May 31-June 2 in Woodbridge.

After an hour’s rain delay to a game that had been postponed the night before, the Potomac Nationals shut out the Carolina Mudcats by a 5-0 count in the opening game of a doubleheader.

Blake Schwartz was making his second start in High-A but against the same team. Last week, Schwartz tossed six shutout innings against Carolina but was overshadowed by Kevin Keyes’s display of lights-out power.

Just as it’s important to not get too excited when a pitcher breezes through the lineup the first time through — watch how often mediocre-to-bad pitchers get hammered in the middle innings, you’ll see what I mean — it’s a good idea to temper expectations when a team gets to see him for a second start.

Well, Schwartz only went five shutout innings this time, giving up the same number of hits and walks (three and one) but striking one more (six vs. five). Early on, it looked like things might be different. A couple of long counts to the tablesetters (doing their job), resulting in a walk and a strikeout. But a popup behind home plate and a little help from speedster Billy Burns quashed that rally.

Indeed, the next few batters seemed to be trying to ambush Schwartz, jumping on first pitches, hoping for a fastball. Instead, they popped up or fell behind.
He didn’t throw particularly hard… or straight, with both cutting and sinking movement spotted. But he mixed in a change that had serious separation (at least 10 mph slower) and a curve that broke more like a southpaw’s.

Meanwhile, Carolina’s Shawn Morimando, who was Schwartz’s opponent last week, was nearly as good the last time out, setting down the first six with ease. But an opposite-field flare from Adrian Sanchez followed by a wall-ball RBI double to right-center by Caleb Ramsey put him in a 1-0 hole in the Potomac 3rd. After retiring two of the next three batters, Cutter Dyktra’s two-out slice through the 5/6 hole produced all the offense the P-Nats pitchers would need.

Potomac would tack on three in the 5th with back-to-back singles from Ramsey and Randolph Oduber, with Michael Taylor plating two on a single to left (though Oduber ran through manage Brian Daubach’s stop sign and the throw in was 10′ off the plate) and Jason Martinson hitting a sacrifice fly deep enough for the two runners on the corners to move up.

Matt Grace came on in the 6th and closed out the game, working out of a 1st-and-2nd with one out jam with a little help from the “D” on double-play ball in his first inning and stranding a two-out single with a flyball to center to end it.

With a win in the nightcap, Potomac evened its home record to 6-6 and its season record to 12-13, two games off the pace in the Carolina League North Division. Robbie Ray (2-1, 1.55) is slated to pitch tonight’s game against Carolina’s Joseph Colon (0-1, 4.15). Ryan Zimmerman, who bowed out of last night’s doubleheader due to less-than-optimal field conditions, is expected to appear tonight on a rehab assignment.

The Hagerstown Suns have announced that RHP Blake Schwartz has been promoted to the Potomac Nationals.

Schwartz was 2-0 with an ERA of 1.26 and a WHIP of 0.49 in four appearances (one start) for Hagerstown, with 21 strikeouts and two walks. He is one the “Notables” on the 2013 Watchlist, in large part because he made the rare jump from the GCL to the Suns last summer. Schwartz was a 17th-Round pick in the 2012 Draft with Oklahoma City University(NAIA).

Taking his place on the Suns roster is LHP Kylin Turnbull, who was routed this past Saturday in the nightcap of a doubleheader by Frederick and roughed up twice by Salem for a total of three losses in three starts, a 14.81ERA, a 2.71WHIP in 10⅓ innings, with eight walks and just three strikeouts. Turnbull was previously drafted (2011 30th Round, White Sox) before signing with the Nationals as a fourth round pick out of Santa Barbara City College (Santa Barbara, CA) in 2011, but did not pitch until last season with Hagerstown.

Schwartz last pitched on April 19th (four perfect innings against West Virginia) and if he’s assuming Turnbull’s spot in the Potomac rotation, he’ll mostly likely make his High-A debut on Wednesday against the Carolina Mudcats in Zebulon, NC.

On the field, the Hagerstown Suns improved upon a successful 2011 campaign with an 82-55 overall record. They missed the first half by three games with a 42-27 mark, but won the second with slightly worse record of 40-28, only to get swept in the playoffs with a pair of 2-run losses (3-1, 7-5). Some may blame the late promotion of Matt Skole at the very late date of August 15 — two months too late, if you ask some folks — for the quick playoff exit, the more objective take is that the pitching just wasn’t there, much like Auburn.

Off the field, the Suns entered the 2012 season with the spectre of the team leaving for Winchester and the rumblings of a new stadium being built in Hagerstown, culminating in a rather bold move of the team opening the kimono by giving a tour of Municipal Stadium, ostensibly to demonstrate that renovation is a not an option. The move may have prevented the team from losing its PDC through 2014, but it’s hard not to infer that threat of the team leaving is to blame for the huge drop in attendance from 2011 to 2012 (1,931 per game to 1,366 — a 29.3% decrease).

Back to the review… Let’s take a look at how the Suns compared to the rest of the South Atlantic League:HITTINGPITCHING

Like 2011, the Suns were among the league leaders in runs and homers (2nd), hits and stolen bases (3rd), and walks (1st). I’ll go out on a limb and say this will probably be true for 2013, too. Unfortunately, some of the reason for this is that the team was among the oldest in the league, with multiple players repeating the level.

Pitching, which had been the organization’s strong suit for years, is now becoming one of its weaknesses. This the fourth of the seven affiliates, and all four levels have given up runs above the league average. This is not to say there weren’t bright spots in Hagerstown — obviously, a couple of examples stand, um, head & shoulders above the others — but it does seem like there was a Mr. Hyde for every Dr. Jekyll. When you can outslug your competition, it often goes unnoticed (well, at least until the playoffs), but this the last level where that’s the case.

Turning back to the bats, we now look at the Top 12 hitters in terms of plate appearances. As always, full statistics for the team can be found here, and the key for the asterisks is one * for the 2011 draft picks and two ** for the DSL graduates.Like Auburn, there is really little to complain about in terms of overall offensive production. Just three of the top 12 produced below the league average, and three produced Nintendo-like numbers for both Gross Production Average and Isolated Power. The problem, of course, is that quite a few of these players were playing a level behind where they should have, as my Hagerstown guy put it in his review.

The only beacon of hope is that maybe, just maybe, one or two of the position players that were promoted from here to Potomac will be challenged with Harrisburg rather than resuming 2013 in Woodbridge. I know that sounds harsh, but perhaps an offseason “leapfrog” might serve as both an incentive to the Low-A guys and reminder to the High-A guys that moving up to the next level isn’t a foregone conclusion. The large number of six-year FA pitchers that were brought in at AA and AAA this year is an example of that line of thinking.

Speaking of pitchers…For all the bitching and moaning discontent over the lack of promotions in the system, Hagerstown was interesting case when it came to pitchers. Four pitchers were promoted from Hagerstown to Potomac, and four pitchers were promoted to the Hub City — but two of those came not from Auburn but from the GCL. And three were 2012 picks.

It’s the skipping over that’s unusual. Ordinarily, one would expect a sequence like Blake Schwartz going from Viera to Auburn and Blake Monar going from Auburn to Hagerstown. Likewise for Leonard Hollins and, say, Travis Henke. It may be just be an anomaly, but it’s worth noting nonetheless.

For the second straight year, eleven pitchers made at least five starts for the Suns. Ineffectiveness and promotions were more to blame than injuries this year, with one starter dropping down from Potomac and two moving up midseason and one very late. Five pitchers went up and back to Viera for fine-tuning (most notably, Turnbull and Estevez) and a sixth went out for the year and under the knife (Brian Dupra).

OBLIGATORY TOP FIVE LISTS
Before blasting me for not listing Karns, remember that he pitched more innings for Potomac and I’m trying to avoid double-listing guys, which gets more difficult as we hit the upper levels. There isn’t a set number of spots to fill for the watchlist, after all. If it means fewer guys and shorter lists at the upper levels, so be it.